Reflect again on online courses you have facilitated or participated in in the past. Where did you see a weakness in either the "teaching" or "learning" aspect of this course? Please share your reflection in the table below.
Read over the submissions of your colleagues, and consider how this weakness could be addressed, and whether or not the inclusion of audio/voice tools would be useful.
Weakness
Strategies
Use the rows in this column to describe a weakness you have experienced in either the "teaching" or "learning" process of a course.(i.e. delivering content, understanding content, completing an activity, etc.)
How could this weakness be addressed? Would audio/voice tools have helped? Why or Why not?
(Cynthia Nesselroade) I have experienced that some participants just do not seem to understanding that they are to post thoughtfully after reading the session discussion question. Often they just mention something that they liked reading about without relating it to their use as an educator. Their answer may be a short comment which turns in to lines of "I agree!" Then this can snowball into a discussion that is not focused on the content being addressed.
(Marianna Leone) One of the most frustrating aspects of teaching and learning in a course is the redundancy in the discussion forum. I agree with the postings here about the lack of thoughtful responses and late responders. Are they really participating in the learning process or just doing the minimum for a grade? I did facilitate courses with such a broad sectrum of participants which made it difficult because of the lack of understanding by some. I think limiting the participants in some courses to teachers will help with this problem.
(Betty Salvatore)
The structure of a course and the manuverabilty of the site quite often add to the complexity of the course. One of the formats that we used was on the News Page each week, a checklist was given so that participants could see at a glance the activities, discussions, and submissions they would have to complete for the week. The feedback from participants indicated that it helped them plan their week. It also assisted us as facilitators in that we had a checklist to use in providing feedback and grading for each week.
(Cynthia Nesselroade) I am very excited to use a Voki for my next course. I would like to use it weekly to have an audio of my "Notes from Ness" news item. I believe it would be helpful to make suggestions and highlight what we are doing good or need help with during the week. I could address the issue or highlight a superb thoughtful response. I am a firm believer in positive reinforcement. The personal nature of the Voki would be a nice touch.
(Marianna Leone) Definitely voice used for instructions would help with explanations that are difficult to express in words. The reason is that when you have to explain in detail, those that need to read it all, don't. I also like the personalization of using actual voices in the course introductions.
I like the use of the Voki for News Content. It is a great way to set the tone for each week;s activities.
(Tanya Baldwin)
I agree with you. I really like the idea of using the Voki for News Content. It's a real attention - getter
(Mary Ann Triplett)
One issue I encountered in the past deals with delivering the content. Some participants have such poor Internet service in their homes they must use the Internet at school to access the content and complete assignments.
(Tanya Baldwin)
One problem I have encountered in the past, has been that there always seems to be some participants who do not supply me with the grad./nongrad. credit info. until repeated nudgings. This piece seems to just not get their attention, until a couple of emails have been sent.
(Tanya Baldwin)
I think an instrument like the Voki would get participants attention quicker in this situation.
(MJ Carder) I agree with you, Tanya. A voki or a voice tool may get their attention quicker than emails.
(Nada Waddell) I agree that it could be a good tool to use to get their attention, but I have concerns about the internet service issues that Mary Ann addressed. How frustrating to not be able to open the voki and be afraid that you missed something of value in the course. I think you would have to have a script available for those who have internet issues
(Melissa Carder) One problem I have encountered in the past is explaining about I's or N's in the gradebook. I attach a comment every time, but the participants never seem to see or read them. I can't remember what they look like to tell them what to look for on the gradebook. I even thought of using the pager, but they are not familiar with this tool either, so we just end up discussing this in emails and wasting a lot of time.
(MJCarder) I would love to use the Voki to send a quick message to those who are behind or to use it to explain how to use the gradebook and the pager.
(Sue Alkire) Many times the participants just do not comprehend the correct information from reading it on there own - whether it's directions on doing some technical procedure or expectations for their project. Sometimes the more detailed the written explanation is, the more it confuses some of the participants or turns them off because it seems so long and complicated.
(Sue Alkire) I think that hearing a friendly voice giving simple instructions would ease the frustration of some participants who are nervous or who do not like reading. Some people are mainly auditory learners. In reality I think that multimedia demonstrations such as with Jing or narrated PPT or digital stories might be better than audio alone, at least for me since I am a visual learner. I think these are best used to introduce a topic to all or to add as tutorials for those who choose to use them if they need extra assistance in understanding a direction or need to have more direct modeling of a topic.
(Nada Waddell) One problem I have had in the past with participants is late postings (and I mean constantly posting at the last minute or even posting into the next session). The other participants do not want to respond to these late postings and so I find these late postings get little feedback. Even when I send mid week check to post in time to give others time to reply to your postings, I still find the problem persists. I understand that sometimes "life happens" and you need extra time, but when I find it happening throughout the course, it's frustrating.
(Nada Waddell) I don't know that a voice tool would be effective or not in the case of late postings. It could be used as a reminder and may get the attention of those late posters more than an email, but I wonder if other facilitators in this class think that a voice tool would be effective in motivating late posters?
(Tanya Sinnett) It seems that no matter how many times I say it or how many different ways I say it - some participants simply do not respond thoughtfully to the posts of other participants. They will post "I agree" or "Nice comment" and that is it.
(Tanya Sinnett) Maybe through the use of voki, I could give examples of what is NOT a way to respond thoughtfully.
(Mickie Richardson) When completing course projects, some participants have difficulty reading and following directions. One example comes from “Finding the Best Educational Resources on the Web”, where participants have had difficulty properly creating their TrackStar. I often sent individual e-mails to assist with problems.
(MaryJane) I agree Mickie, I think that I might go a little further with this thought. Participants, even with online learning, might have a tendency to 'read quickly' and not get all of the information or the important information we would like for these to experience
(Mickie Richardson) Adding voice instructions when difficulties arose might assist other participants, enabling them to successfully complete their projects in a timely manner. At times, it is difficult to type all of your directions or thoughts in a manner that is easily understood. Addition of voice could make the directions easier to follow. This strategy would assist auditory learners. (MaryJane) We liked using the Voki to provide instructions, even more so a specific reminder to be sure they did an assignment within our course that they were forgetting to complete. We used a rubric for reflection and we explained the reflection piece to the participants with a Voki. It worked, the content on each persons' rubric improved.
(Vickie Witt) I too have to agree with what has been said! The quality of postings in the discussion forum, which by the way I like seeing the guidelines in every discussion forum we are having in our course! Perhaps having this in all courses in the discussion area will help with this.... Also, the explanation of reading the postings requirements and grading of C for completion.
(Vickie Witt) I agree Sue, that using a voki or a voice tool will help give that 'friendly voice' but you can also be firm and friendly! Get your point across on the requirements. You are not meeting face to face and you don't want an email or general message to all to come off to cross or taken wrong. So the use of the voki can be very helpful!!
(Emil Whipkey) One of the problems I have encountered in facilitating online courses is the computer skills of some participants. I have had participants who had difficulty with using the directions in the class such as downloading the document required for the final project. They have also had difficulty uploading the final document in the last session for their other participants to review and critique.
(Emil Whipkey) I can see using Audacity or Voki to create a brief tutorial on the downloading the template at the beginning of the class and using one of these also for uploading the final document in the last session. I can see these products as aids for the learners that need this type of instruction to understand these functions.
(Myrtle Holland) I encountered a couple of problems while facilitating. One was that the course was during the summer; people went on vacation during the course and so had to get caught up on their postings which meant I had to go back and read a great deal of past session discussion posts. Another encounterd problem was like some of our students, one participant kept telling me that she had turned in her midcourse assignments, when she hadn't. I then had to contact her several times to get and she turned the mid course work in the fifth week, which put her behind for her final project. I also had a participant who turned in a very poor final project and I think thought that it was adequate for grad. credit.
(Myrtle Holland) Using voice tools would definitely aid in giving participants audio directions and descriptions. This would reinforce the written content and differientiates instruction. I think that using an avatar is so cool and would increase interest and therefore retention of content.
(Joe Paolo) In the course, find the best sources on the web, some participants, at that time, lacked computer skill. The problem was that they had difficutly following links, reviewing the content and returning.
(Joe Paolo)These tools could have provided visual and written instuctions. As an example, did you every try to list the instructions to tie a shoe?
(Debbie Nicholson) I agree with many others that many participants do only what is required of them at the bare minimum level. I even find myself guilty of this at times. Many times it is not that the material doesn't interest me or that I don't care about what I am doing but as everyone I feel strapped for time and find that I am rushing at the end to complete the necessary assignments.
I believe that if we give participants the opportunity to work with these tools over a longer period of time, they would be able to experiment more and find ways to incorporate these applications. It might even be interesting to ENCOURAGE them to post a discussion using one of the new tools. I know that this would provide a little incentive for me to take the time to investigate the tools.
(Lisa Teeters) One challenge I have found is that toward the end of the course participants have started to not be as detailed with their postings or responses. It is as if they are just getting through and doing as little as they have to. Many will begin to do only the required number of readings and posting.
(Lisa Teeters) I believe the lack of detailed responses could be addressed by allowing individuals the opportunity to respond to a session in some way other than through the discussion board. If we would allow them to explore different venues and then allow discussion to come through that it may inspire particpants to be more involved.
SESSION THREE: REFLECTION ON THE ROLE OF VOICE
Reflect again on online courses you have facilitated or participated in in the past. Where did you see a weakness in either the "teaching" or "learning" aspect of this course? Please share your reflection in the table below.
Read over the submissions of your colleagues, and consider how this weakness could be addressed, and whether or not the inclusion of audio/voice tools would be useful.
Use the rows in this column to describe a weakness you have experienced in either the "teaching" or "learning" process of a course. (i.e. delivering content, understanding content, completing an activity, etc.)
How could this weakness be addressed? Would audio/voice tools have helped? Why or Why not?
(Marianna Leone) One of the most frustrating aspects of teaching and learning in a course is the redundancy in the discussion forum. I agree with the postings here about the lack of thoughtful responses and late responders. Are they really participating in the learning process or just doing the minimum for a grade? I did facilitate courses with such a broad sectrum of participants which made it difficult because of the lack of understanding by some. I think limiting the participants in some courses to teachers will help with this problem.
(Betty Salvatore)
The structure of a course and the manuverabilty of the site quite often add to the complexity of the course. One of the formats that we used was on the News Page each week, a checklist was given so that participants could see at a glance the activities, discussions, and submissions they would have to complete for the week. The feedback from participants indicated that it helped them plan their week. It also assisted us as facilitators in that we had a checklist to use in providing feedback and grading for each week.
(Marianna Leone) Definitely voice used for instructions would help with explanations that are difficult to express in words. The reason is that when you have to explain in detail, those that need to read it all, don't. I also like the personalization of using actual voices in the course introductions.
I like the use of the Voki for News Content. It is a great way to set the tone for each week;s activities.
(Tanya Baldwin)
I agree with you. I really like the idea of using the Voki for News Content. It's a real attention - getter
One issue I encountered in the past deals with delivering the content. Some participants have such poor Internet service in their homes they must use the Internet at school to access the content and complete assignments.
(Tanya Baldwin)
One problem I have encountered in the past, has been that there always seems to be some participants who do not supply me with the grad./nongrad. credit info. until repeated nudgings. This piece seems to just not get their attention, until a couple of emails have been sent.
I think an instrument like the Voki would get participants attention quicker in this situation.
(MJ Carder) I agree with you, Tanya. A voki or a voice tool may get their attention quicker than emails.
(Nada Waddell) I agree that it could be a good tool to use to get their attention, but I have concerns about the internet service issues that Mary Ann addressed. How frustrating to not be able to open the voki and be afraid that you missed something of value in the course. I think you would have to have a script available for those who have internet issues
(MaryJane) I agree Mickie, I think that I might go a little further with this thought. Participants, even with online learning, might have a tendency to 'read quickly' and not get all of the information or the important information we would like for these to experience
(MaryJane) We liked using the Voki to provide instructions, even more so a specific reminder to be sure they did an assignment within our course that they were forgetting to complete. We used a rubric for reflection and we explained the reflection piece to the participants with a Voki. It worked, the content on each persons' rubric improved.